Console Shaper is not a plugin. It does not behave like a plugin and was not designed behave to be a plugin. Console Shaper is a virtual mixing desk. The 'drive' 'noise' etc. is there so you can create your own mixing desk's sound and style. This is to be done before recording and mixing and then left alone. It wasn't designed to be used like a virtual guitar amp.

 

Well.......
I'm using CS without the drive, leaving the fake algo harmonics/saturation and channel volume problems out, using just crosstalk and a little noise. Then using a Nebula SSL 4K or Neve 88RS on the Buss and then on the master, adding real console dynamic harmonics.

I must admit, I'm a happy ITB Engineer today, this sounds fantastic for a digital mix. Thank you Presonus, your new free tool has upped my ITB mix quality just a tiny bit more, and every tiny bit is appreciated.

 

The Presonus Console Shaper and Plugin Alliance BX Console are truer emulations of how analog consoles work.

The Steven Slate plugins are good, not great in my personal assessment. The one gripe I have with the Slate
plugins is unwanted background artifacts. Reminds me of tube pre-amp "spitting".

"Spitting is where resistors and/or capacitors are out of spec producing more hiss and spikes in
the noise floor. This happened across three DAWS using the same track setup done from scratch.

While there a good channel/console simulators, imho, Console Shaper and BX Console do the best job thus far.

 

I learned about this plugin here, too, and I've been using it ever since. I liked it so much I use it on almost everything and got slightly annoyed by a couple of things about it (Can't save the auto-gain on feature, can't configure integration time, etc) so I made my own that fixes those problems. Mine works perfectly now, so I'm cleaning up the interface and releasing it soon (free). I'll make a thread here when I do!

 

I hope you make it AAX.

 

Is this gain stage macro affect the volume (post fader) or clip gain (pre-fader)?

Thanks.

 

LOL, just watched this part you are right... nothing is routed to the bus because he selected "add bus channel" instead of "add bus for selected channesl" If you check out VU meter on the empty bus it's active, making it look like stuff is happening. The noise and cross talk settings on the console shaper placed on the main output affects all busses making them look active, even if nothing is routed to them.

 

I wrote it using JUCE, so yeah I can spit out pretty much everything I think. I don't have PT or Logic, so I'll have to get a couple people to beta test the AU/AAX/RTAS versions before they work though.

 

I'll be glad to give your plugin a beta ride in Pro Tools.

 

DBmusik has it 100% correct sorry guys who don't agree, and I'm not sure you've thought it through if you think Presonus would release this if it was as stupid as you claim. You are just making mountains out of molehills by trying to make this new system/MIXfx conform to your preconceived idea of using normal plug-ins, they are not the same. As said, the controls on console shaper are there only to setup your required/ideal fake console. It's like lifting the panels on an SSL and tweaking the pots with a screwdriver, or changing caps etc. It's THAT simple.

SET. AND. FORGET. (at least with the drive, but crosstalk could affect gain too so really - just SET AND FORGET). If you want more analog style distortion or whatever floats your boat then just use the OTHER plugs you would normally use as well. If you want say a snare to get really gritty but keep the kick just nice, don't fret about the drve on the CS - put a bloody distortion plug on the snare as you normally would! CS isn't MEANT to cater for everything in a mix, it just gives you a great sounding 'console' to mix on. One that, much like hardware, is PRE SET AND FORGOTTEN.

Then you mix as usual, alterting your sources at the clip/waveform level down by aprox the amount of drive you've added for that channels CS. It couldn't be more simple, seriously.

To work the way you guys would prefer would make it a lot more unusable and cause more problems than it solves concering chasing gain (even if it were post fader you'd be gain adjusting all the time to counter it so it matters not). As it is now you do ONE action of set/forget then no gain chasing every again.

Obviously presonus didn't just throw this thing together, it's clearly taken a lot of thought about how to 'replace the entire mix engine' and it can not be equated to how you are used to using standard plug-ins. This is much deeper and needs to be integrated this way for it to work at it's most efficient and intuitive.

But you know what? I know we'll not convince you so why not just not use it and stick to a less than ideal plug in emu of choice instead? It won't do quite what CS is doing and it'll take a lot more plug-in counts to do its thing, but if you're not happy...

I've heard hundreds of people saying they love this and it's like a tiny handful of stubborn people who have a problem with it, and the problem is in THEIR thinking not in how the CS works. Not an insult, it's just true.

 

Last edited: Mar 3, 2016

It is "by design" but sorry to say it is not plain stupid. Without resorting to insults I'd look closer to home for the 'stupid' part.

What is not clear about PUT IT ON BEFORE YOU MIX OR INSERT ANY OTHER PLUGS? set and forget!

What you are describing is the perfectly normal reaction of compressors etc when you boost the input but haven't reduced the threshold (which was set for a certain level before you used CS with drive which BOOSTS that level pre-channel insert fx!).

In other words, remove all threshold from your comps, in fact just remove ALL comps if you are that in the dark on it - remove all your inserts, it's meant to be used on a fresh mix. Lots of people have written this by now when will people start listening? You can make that exact same 'drastic volume drop' on any mix in any daw if you just simply pushed you clip gain up (pre fader pre fx) by 6db or more but didn't adjust your compressor threshold to take that into account!

The other way this can happen is if you pump the drive up high but haven't reduced your CLIP GAIN STAGING to compensate! If you don't then CS has an auto volume safety net built in, basically if you hear volume dropping then YOU are doing something wrong and it's warning you to go check your compressors or your trim/clip gain levels. You shouldn't need more than 6db drive in most cases anyway but w/e

The onus is on you to understand this, not on presonus to make it seem 'not stupid', plenty of people understand from the first 10 minuntes how it works and why and have gone on to stunning results using. Those that actually understand how to use are saying nothing but good things about it, those that literally can not wrap their brain around gain staging or the concept of what this new system is doing WILL FAIL, not because they can't learn but because they seem to not want to learn and just call it "stupid".

Trust me it's worth pushing through and getting to grips with it, it's an awesome system and is making my mixes sound way better even before I add any plugs.

simple clear steps to using CS - do anything BUT this and you only have yourselves to blame:

1. Use on a fresh mix - no plugs anywhere
2. Put CS on your busses (actually it's not on the busses it's before them but n/m) and mixbus - set drive as you feel (don't go mental with it)
3. With a VU meter (which you should be using for good gainstaging anyway) go through your channels and adjust the clip gains (not the faders) by a similar amount DOWN to the amount of drive you used (6db say). Or just whatever sounds good and looks right on the VU meters (not slammed)
4. Now start mixing (now you put your eqs comps etc in place) These will all take into account the new 'console' set up and everything will be as it always was - except now you'l have beautiful warmth, glue, punch, depth and all the other things we associate with analog (emulation) but done way better than usual plugs can as it has access to the summing engine.

If you can't mix 'fresh' then at LEAST remove or reduce thresholds on any compressors in your mix, and then follow steps 2-4 above.

simple!

 

Last edited: Mar 3, 2016

We need a "sounds reasonable" button.

 

Man, you can say whatever you want, but nothing can justify the implementation of a drive button that literally behaves completely different from all other drive buttons out there.

It's a wrong implementation and I bet that the next third-party plugins developed for Mix Fx will behave differently.

Anyway, you're correct about all the rest. Console Shaper is supposed to be used right from the start...But god forbid if you feel like you need to reduce or increase the drive in the middle of a huge mix, like I did the other day...

You know, these things have a cumulative effect. What sounds right in the begining of a mix may sound wrong later on, after you set up the appropriate fx chain for all your individual tracks.

The biggest advantage of plugins over hardware is that you don't have to commit. You can change your mind later on. Bringing the inflexibility of hardware into the digital world is plain stupid...

Besides, like I said, if the whole point was to create a truthful simulation of a hardware console, there shouldn't be a drive button, in the first place. Then they should've done it like Mixbus; Drive it on gain-stage or by pushing the faders.

But nevermind, man. I guess we agree about most things except for the way that damn drive button has been implemented. That's ok.

Take care.

R.

 

Last edited: Mar 3, 2016

RMorgan discovered serious flaws in the behaviour of console shaper,so did i.
Its a beta tool at best,they need help from professionals who have been in tape/console emulation for a longer time.

 

Yea or just use https://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/products/bx_console.html

 

Yeah, bx console sounds great, but it's not the same thing.

Console Shaper's approach is pretty much the same as Harrison Mixbus' approach. It replaces the whole mixing engine, opening the possibilities of interactions between tracks that simply aren't possible at a plugin level...

That's basically the difference between Console Shaper and all other console emulation plugins out there, like bx console, waves nls, britson/satson, slate vcc, sknote stripbus, etc...

So far, Mixbus was the only DAW which offered such kind of in depth simulation, but Mixbus isn't really a full fledged DAW like Studio One...Not even close.

This is very cool. I can't wait to see what other developers like Slate, Softube and Acustica Audio are planning to release for this tech.

 

"Console emulation is just the beginning. PreSonus, Slate Digital, Softube, Acustica Audio, and other third-party developers will be releasing more Mix Engine FX in the coming months."

yes. looking forward to this.

 

@RMorgan
"This is very cool. I can't wait to see what other developers like Slate, Softube and Acustica Audio are planning to release for this tech."

A usb mini analog console with 1/50 inch micro tape,Slate is calling it the next best thing since sliced bread.

 

Hey, Tony from Groove3 here.
I just wanted to thank you for pointing out this obvious mistake. We immediately had Bill reshoot that part using the correct render and updated the video on our site.
Apologies for letting a mistake like this get through but thankfully we saw the post and were able to correct it.

We appreciate our customers involvement in the forums and audio community. Let's all keep making great music

 

Wow,that is seriously fucked up.Tony ,are you gonna get that punk get away with that?
That guy got a lot of balls,twisting knobs that dont even affect the tracks.